We are starting a series called “Love Lies” tomorrow night at BSM South. During this series we will uncover some of the lies the devil has spoken regarding love and relationships. We will look at God’s word and talk about how He intended for us to invest in relationships and handle the subject of love. This five week series will focus on each of these directions:

1. Love vs. Lust2. How to deal with loneliness3. How to heal from heartbreak4. How to navigate offense5. Q/A panel (Nathan and Ashley Healy; Faith Brodie and her fiancé Grey Hoff) answering questions about dating/love that students text in

We want to partner with you in this series. Feel free to tune into our messages on Facebook live (The High School Page is “BeltwayHS” and the Middle School Page is “BeltwayMS”) and ask your students follow up questions at home to engage with them more on this topic. If you would like to join us in prayer during this series that God would reveal Himself clearly to your student(s), and the other BSM students, that would be appreciated! Let us know if you have any questions by emailing Nathanhealy@beltway.org or Faithbrodie@beltway.org.

We would love to invite YOU to our BSM South Serve Day this Saturday, February 9th! We will be loving and serving the Wind Chase community near Buffalo Gap Rd and South 27th. We have invited the residents to join us for a party. We will have burgers, hot dogs, snacks, face painting for kids, and other games.

Our objective is to bless and build relationship with this community!

11:45AM: Arrive at the concrete court in the middle of the apartment complex for prayer and explanation of serve positions12:00PM: Start outreach1:30PM: Wrap up outreach

APPLY FOR THE YOUTH WORK PROGRAM TODAY!

In youth ministry, summer time is BUSY!! This summer has been a whirlwind of traveling to Atlanta with high school students, BSM Camp, Costa Rica with middle school students and their parents, and last but not least Mission Abilene with 6th & 7th graders. Then school starts.

There’s a never-ending list of things to do. There’s always something fighting for my attention. “Summer’s just really busy.” “There are so many things happening in the Fall.” “Holiday season is so fast and busy.” “Spring is our busy season.”

These seem to be common statements that I use to define my life. I always feel busy. There are constantly things demanding my attention and a lot of times I feel inclined to give my attention to those things because I WANT to feel busy... or I don’t want to stay still, to be going all of the time....or because I need to feel needed.

I recently got back from a trip to Liberia, Costa Rica and was able to see the contrast of culture between Americans and Costa Ricans. As Americans, we do really well to have a set schedule, to have things constantly demand our time and if we don’t stick to that schedule or plan, we feel a tension of “did I really bring value to that thing or accomplish…?”. Throughout the trip, there was a constant tension of leaning into the culture we were getting to be apart of and the culture I grew up in. It was like two worlds colliding. No one culture is better than the other but within the tension, there’s a space. Early on in the week, I heard the Lord whisper John 15. What I love about Jesus is that His words have so many layers. You unpack one thing and then He shows up to peel back another layer.

In John 15:4-5;9, Jesus says to His disciples, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing…As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in My love.”

Abide. There is so much in this one simple word. It’s not a movement word, it’s a word that means “to remain, continue or stay.” In Costa Rica, the Lord was gentle and kind to remind me of His heart for me and the people around me. It’s not to “do do do” or “go go go” but to “Abide in My love…These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” His heartbeat for me, for us, is not to be swept up in a storm of busyness or constantly go for the sake of going, but to FIRST abide. Abide, so that we know His love for us and bear fruit so that we can in turn love people around us because we have received from THE Vine.

So as our feet start to step into the movement that is constant, let us remember that His command for us is to FIRST abide. He gives us grace to abide. May we accept this grace and abide in the One who gives life, who prefers us before Himself, and who knows the ebbs and flows before they come.